By Aaron Souliere
ROGERS, ARK. — As graduation approaches, seniors look forward to pursuing their future academic career in college. This involves getting into college, applying for scholarships and, importantly, filling out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application before the new deadline of March 1.
FAFSA is a federally-run, financial aid program. The program provides loans and other no-strings-attached aid from the government for qualifying scholars. This allows new opportunities for scholars who may have had doubts about how they could handle the expenses that come with college.
The original FAFSA deadline ended in late December, but due to new changes involving the process and when the application was released, the new deadline is now March 1.
Mallory Scherrey, Haas Hall Academy at the Lane’s college and academic advisor, said this not only means changes for scholars, but also their college of choice.
“The big thing, too, is that the colleges and universities moved their deadlines as well, so a lot changed when they expected that FAFSA to be completed, some are wanting them to be completed before the summer, some want it completed before march, so it’s important that you look at each college and know when the deadline is for that FAFSA information.”
Scherrey said the changes that the form has undergone should make the process smoother and more accessible for all scholars who use it.
“It’s got a more user friendly form that you can navigate, enhanced accessibility, making it to where it’s in 11 different languages now, before it was just in English and Spanish, so I think that is a much needed improvement.”
Scholars can fill out an application that should take them about an hour to complete and requires basic information about them and their financial standing. This information is sent to the IRS, so that the IRS can ensure scholars are getting the appropriate aid.
“We now have the IRS direct exchange… It’s a big part of it because with that partnership with the IRS it will ask you to consent to allowing the IRS to exchange data with FAFSA, and if you don’t provide your consent then you won’t be eligible at all for financial aid,” said Scherrey. “So it’s really important. It’s not very much different; it just makes it easier because the IRS can provide that data, so you don’t have to manually input every little thing.”
These changes mean an easier time putting in your financial information, but scholars need to keep in mind that whenever they apply they need to have some things on hand. Namely, documents regarding their income and financial information from both of their parents, as well as their parent or guardian there with them through the whole process.
Branton Ross, a senior who has applied for financial aid, had this to say about his experience applying for FAFSA:
“I did apply for it. I don’t know how smooth I would say it was. It did take a while… I applied for it in early January when it first came out, and it’s still under review, so I haven’t even gotten that back yet.”
Thanks to the new procedures put in place to help scholars with the application process and the wider eligibility for people, scholars should have a greater chance than ever of getting financial aid for college or universities.
